February 10/14 12:58 pm - Mallorca Challenge: Day 1 and 2 results

Posted by Editoress on 02/10/14

Modolo doubles up on Mallorca

Sacha Modolo has managed to pull a spectacular double at the beginning of the Mallorca Challenge: After winning the Trofeo Palma, Lampre-Merida's sprinter was again the first to cross the finish line at the Trofeo Ses Salines, celebrating his second victory in two days.

After the mostly flat first race of the Mallorca Challenge, the Trofeo Ses Salines on the second day featured some hills and an uphill finishing straight. The distance was quite a bit longer as well with 183 kilometres (the Trofeo Palma was 116km). Compared to the day before, Lampre-Merida changed its line-up in just one position: José Serpa conceded his position to Chris Horner, allowing the American winner of 2013's Vuelta a Espana his race debut in blue, fuchsia and Merida-green.

Initially a group of six attackers set off, with Lampre-Merida taking charge of things in the first positions of the peloton to keep the advantage of the lead group in check. The team got a helping hand from teams Sky and Omega Pharma-Quick Step as the day went on. As soon as the last two attackers had been reeled in, the focus turned to preparing for the bunch sprint in the streets of Santany.

As the last lead-out man, Max Richeze made sure that Sacha Modolo was well positioned throughout the many twists and turns of the final kilometres. As a result of this effort, Modolo could start his sprint on the ascending finishing straight from the best possible position, distancing his closest competitors by a bike length on the finish line. For Sacha Modolo this was the second win on two consecutive days and the third win of the still young season.

Lampre-Merida press release

The Mallorca Challenge sees Antoine Duchesne make his debut with Team Europcar.